1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foam filling member used for filling a space of a structure with foam.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A foam filling member used for filling foaming material in a hollow structure, such as a pillar of a vehicle, is generally known.
For example JP Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2003-146243 proposes a foam filling tool as an example of the foam filling member, which comprises a foaming base material formed of material which is foamed by heating from outside, a supporting member having a supporting plate for supporting one side of the foaming base material, the foaming base material being formed in generally annular form to correspond in size to the supporting plate, and an annular weir wall, projected from one side of the supporting plate, for supporting an inner circumferential wall of the foaming base material.
According to this foam filling tool, when the foaming base material is heated from outside after the foam filling tool is set in place in a hollow room such as a pillar of a vehicle, the foam filling of the foaming base material is suppressed with respect to a longitudinal direction of the hollow room by the supporting plate and is accelerated with respect to a direction substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal direction orienting toward the inner wall of the hollow room to produce the foam. Also, this foam filling of the foaming base material is prevented from progressing toward a center of an opening of the foaming base material by the annular weir wall of the supporting plate. This can allow the effective and smooth filling of the hollow room with the foam produced using a very small quantity of foaming base material to be foamed by heating.
Also, for example JP Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2003-94475 proposes a gap filling material in sheet form as an example of the foam filling member having an expanding layer of material to be expanded by heating, one side of which grooves extending from one end to the other are formed, and the other side of which a sticking layer is formed.
This gap filling material has reduced thicknesses at portions thereof at which the grooves are formed, so that it is well curved around a curved surface of a pillar of a vehicle. Hence, even when the curved surface to which the gap filling material is stuck has a high curvature, the gap filling material can be stuck around it, leaving no space therebetween, so that when foamed and expanded by heating, it can be well filled in the gap leaving no space therebetween.
In the foam filling tool described by JP Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2003-146243 cited above, the supporting plate is formed of hard, synthetic resin material so that when the foaming base material is foamed, the supporting plate can be prevented from being bent in a direction substantially orthogonal to a direction of its surface extending by the pressure acting in the same direction or by its own weight, in order to prevent the foam filling of the foaming base material in a longitudinal direction of the hollow room, the drooping under its own weight in the longitudinal direction or the dropping of the same. This requires that the supporting plate be previously molded in a specified shape corresponding to a shape of cross section of the hollow room, thus requiring a variety of molds for various shapes of cross section of the hollow room.
On the other hand, the gap filling material described by JP Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publication No. 2003-94475 cited above is designed to stick the sticking layer on the curved surface of the pillar of the vehicle. Due to this, when the gap filling material is stuck on the curved surface and then is coated with an antirust paint and, thereafter, the expansion layer is expanded by heating from outside to fill the hollow room, there causes the problem that a region of the curved surface where the gap filling material was stuck is not coated with the antirust paint.